Articles by Guest Contributor
Guest contributors write for FashionUnited on a voluntary basis to share their expertise and highlight topics that matter to fashion industry professionals.
What Fashion Farm teaches me
What began as a personal study has grown into a place where we collectively explore how fashion can reconnect with its origins. The Fashion Farm in Welsum, a small Dutch village on the left bank of the IJssel River in the municipality of Olst-Wijhe, raises a fundamental question: what happens when we reconnect fashion with the source of...
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Clothing repair is trending – but is it a real industry shift?
Attention to clothing repair and care is trending upwards. People appear increasingly interested in what their clothes are made of, how long they will last, and how to look after them. Brands are also waking up to repair. During the first half of 2026, brands and retailers including Salomon, Kiabi and Next launched repair programmes, and United...
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Nature is becoming fashion’s most underpriced risk
As fashion week rolls through New York, London, Milan, and Paris, buyers and editors are working out where the money will go for spring/summer 2027. But behind the catwalks, the people who actually make those collections are watching something less reassuring. Almost every material the industry runs on, from cotton and wool to leather and...
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Textile-to-textile recycling is scaling, but not at the level of its hype – new report finds
Textile-to-textile recycling is one of the most hyped topics in circular fashion right now, largely driven by the commercialization of chemical recycling currently underway. Although recycling can provide one of the core building blocks for closing the loop in the industry, industry professionals are raising the alarm on how difficult it is to...
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Influencer content: The IP rights fashion brands need to secure
Paying an influencer to create content does not necessarily give a fashion brand the right to reuse it. A brand may commission a short video for a product launch, then repurpose it for paid advertising, its website, an email campaign or an in-store screen. Months later, it may revive the content for a new colourway, even though the original...
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The wonder of woad: from seed to colour
In the wet spring of 2024, Roua Alhalabi of Roua Atelier came to the Fashion Farm in the Netherlands with a glass jar full of woad seeds. A simple idea emerged from conversations about plants, pigments and textile knowledge lost over the centuries: what if we sowed this historic dye plant together here on our farm? Just among the vegetables in...
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Your clothes are shedding microfibres - and regulators are coming
Every time you wash a garment, it sheds hundreds of thousands of tiny fibres into the water system, most invisible to the naked eye. Multiply that by the 132 million tonnes of textiles produced globally each year, and the picture changes dramatically. Earth Action’s new report, From Shedding to Solutions, provides the first system-level...
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Regardless of the World Cup winner, merchandise always loses
The World Cup is in full swing. While we remain in our small, football-mad country discuss line-ups, substitutions and the unprecedented performance of Cape Verde (!), a supply chain is running at full capacity somewhere. It is producing products with a shelf life of just a few weeks. The Dutch 'Juichjack', the World Cup dressing gown, the...
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Made For A Woman and the new value of craft in Madagascar
Luxury has long celebrated craftsmanship. Yet behind every threaded piece, embroidered detail or handmade object is a person whose story often remains invisible. Increasingly, the conversation is changing. The question is no longer only what is made, but who benefits from making it. In Madagascar, Made For A Woman offers a powerful example of...
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Luxury redefined: how emotional connection is becoming the new currency of the industry
The luxury industry has always stood for prestige, exclusivity and artisanal perfection. For a long time, it was associated with a kind of promise: investing in a brand meant acquiring not just a product, but also status, cultural relevance and a sense of belonging. This understanding still holds true today, yet the underlying model for success...
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